Amenhotep 111 in Luxor Temple, the Colossi of Memnon and Malkata Palace

Amenhotep 111 of the 18th Dynasty, his name means 'Amun is Satisfied', was also known as Amenhotep the Magnificent, He ruled over Egypt for almost 40 years,  with his vast wealth brought into the country from his Grandfather Tutmosis 111, he built enormous temples and a palace on the West bank. 

Amenhotep became king at around the age of 12 after the death of his father Tuthmosis IV,  his mother Mutemwia acted as his regent. Early in his reign Amenhotep married for love,  the Daughter of a Chariot Officer, who became Queen Tiy. Both Amenhotep's mother and wife join him at the side of his legs on the Colossi of Memnon, these two huge statues originally stood in front of Amenhotep's Mortuary Temple, which was originally the largest Mortuary Temple on the West Bank. The Temple was destroyed by the Nile Floods, an earthquake in 24 BC, and also other kings using his blocks to build their own temples. 

Until the Aswan Dam was built to control the Nile floods, the Temple and Colossi were inundated with water every year. The Ancient Greeks gave Amenophis' colossi the name the Colossi of Memnon, as one of the statues would sing at dawn, which at that time was a phenomena, the Greeks thought it was the Goddess Eos crying for her son Agamemnon at Dawn, many people made a pilgrimage to the Colossi, the right foot is covered in graffitti.

Amenhotep also built his palace on the West Bank, the walls of the  palace of Malkata, which now lies in ruins, was covered with delicate paintings of animals, flowers and the reed beds of the Nile, it was made of mud brick, which is why  it didn't stand the test of time, the desert is littered with it's ruins,  when it was completed, it was the largest royal residence in Egypt and was known as Per-Hay "House of Rejoicing'. The area where the Palace stood in the desert close to the Mortuary Temple of Medinet Habu is now known as Malkata, meaning the place where things are picked up in Arabic. The palace was built in the 14th century BC, once completed, it was the largest royal residence in Egypt, Both Amenhoteph's Palace and his Mortuary Temple  were linked  to the Nile and allowed direct access to the king's new temple at Luxor and the great state temple of Amun at Karnak on his barque 'Aten Sparkles. Amenhotep III described his Mortuary Temple complex as 'a fortress of eternity out of good white sandstone—worked with gold throughout. Its floors were purified with silver, all of its doorways were of electrum,' which is a mix of gold and silver.

When Amenhotep III died, he left behind a country that was at the very height of its power and influence, it was wealthy and stable, his son Akhenaten brought Egypt to the brink of Disaster with his policies and worship of the One God, the Aten. Akhenaten left Malkata Palace and went into the Desert and created a new  capital city known as Akhetaten  in English transliteration  Akhetaten means 'Horizon of the Aten'. After Akhenaten's death his son Tutenhaten changed his name to Tutenkhamun and returned to Weset (luxor) and re-instated the worship of the God Amun Ra. 

In 1970 the completion of the Aswan High Dam stopped the Nile's flooding of the Colossi and Mortuary Temple, but irrigation of the near agricultural fields have caused salt water damage instead, so a drainage system was built to minimize the quantity of damaging saltwater reaching the temple site. For over the the last twenty years archaeologists have worked on the land behind the Colossi of Memnon, these colossi seemed to be all that was left  of Amenhotep's Mortuary Temple, but amazingly  excavations have uncovered this giant head of Amenhotep, and  the missing forearm of one of the colossi of Memnon, as well as fragments of the figure’s pleated kilt-like skirt and throne. 

There have been many statues of the Goddess Sekhmet found on site, 730 so far, Sekhmet, goddess of transformation, and of solar feminine fire, compassionate healer, the fierce protector of the King is once again sitting imperious, observing the work around her.

A beautiful Alabaster statue of Amenhotep's Royal Wife Tiy, the Grandmother of Tutenkhamun has also been found by Archaeologists. This is Queen Tiy standing at the side of Amenhotep's leg on the Colossi of Memnon.

Part of the building work that Amenhotep created was the large Festival Hall of Luxor Temple which is surrounded by  64  papyrus columns, to be used for the celebrations of the Opet Festival each year just before the flood season when Egyptians eagerly anticipated the coming of Akhet, the flooding season. Meaning 'inundation,' Akhet was the all-important time when the Nile’s floodwaters replenished the land and restored Egypt’s fertility. This time of joyous renewal was also when ancient Egypt held one of its most spectacular and most mysterious festivals: the Feast of Opet. where both the King & Egypt were symbolically renewed. To the rear of the temple behind the Festival hall are Chapels, I walked through a doorway into a suite of rooms that represent the bedroom of Amun where the festival rituals took place, and here the pharaoh  retired to the Birth Room, from which he would later  emerge symbolically re-born and restored. The statues of the king’s ka were no longer on display because the ka was now believed to have taken residence in the pharaoh’s body.  Reliefs in the birth room represent Amon choosing the Queen Mutemweje to give birth to his Divine son. He sent Thoth with the message to the queen and ordered Khnum to create an image of himself on his potter’s wheel. The fingers of the god Amun are shown to touch those of the queen She awoke because of the god’s scent and cried out with pleasure before his majesty. … She rejoiced at the sight of his beauty, and love of him suffused her body. …'How great is your power!'… Your dew permeates all my limbs,' and so the boy child Amenhotep was born into the world created by Amun and then crowned as the King. I realized the similarity of this sequence of events of this ancient Egyptian relief as it compares to our Christmas story of the angel coming to visit Mary to tell her that she will give birth to the son of God. As the Royal scribe Ani said; 'God reveals himself in millions of forms'

Luxor Temple is a Unique Temple in Egypt as it Celebrates Many Faiths'

I feel that Luxor temple is a unique temple as it is not the home of a god, nor is it a mortuary temple; this temple was originally created to celebrate the 'Opet Festival' of  Birth, and Rejuvenation.

What  makes Luxor Temple so special is that it celebrates many faiths that have been, and still are worshipped here. Firstly the ancient Egyptian Gods, Amun, Mut, Khonsu, and Amun Min (the fertility God), It also celebrates the Greek period, the Roman period, Christianity, and finally the Muslim faith



The Mosque of Abu il Hagag

As I stood quietly in the shade beneath one of the awesome marching statues of Ramses 11 in the first courtyard, the muezzin call suddenly echoed from the Mosque of Abu il Hagag that was built onto a corner of the temple roof 800 years ago,'Allah Akhbar', (God is great) , suddenly as I stood and listened my body became a washed with the feeling of the divine, and in that one single moment in time I felt that I had become one with Egypt’s past and present in this wondrous place of worship.

Ancient Egyptian 'Feast of Opet'


In Ancient Egypt every year a wonderful celebration was held here in Luxor Temple, it was known as the 'Opet Festival,'  and was celebrated just before the flood season, when Egypt would be renewed for another year.  The ceremony started at Karnack temple when the king would walk down the avenue of sphinx that stretched for about one mile with priests carrying the sacred barques of the God Amun,  his wife Mut, and their son Khonsu.  During these celebrations the king and Egypt was symbolically reborn every year, the king would disappear from the festival and re-emerge seven days later from the birth room, so when I think of Luxor temple I imagine it as a living womb, and when it was time for the birth the festival and ceremony of the birth was enacted. Recently a few years ago many of the sphinx were dug from the sand, to create a larger avenue leading from Luxor Temple towards Karnack, but  most of the Sphinx are under the streets of Luxor now, so the life blood, energy, and vitality, that flowed between the two temples has been severed.



Walking across the large Festival Hall of Amenhotep 111 you enter a small area that the Romans used for their faith. Here a doorway leads you to a suite of rooms and the Holy Barque shrine. I circled around the outside of the barque shrine  and  walked through a doorway that led into a suite of rooms that represent the bedroom of Amun where the festival rituals took place, and the pharaoh  retired to the Birth Room, from which he would later  emerge symbolically re-born and restored. The statues of the king’s ka were no longer on display because the ka was now believed to have taken residence in the pharaoh’s body.  Reliefs in the birth room represent Amon choosing the Queen Mutemweje to give birth to his Divine son. He sent Thoth with the message to the queen and ordered Khnum to create an image of himself on his potter’s wheel. The fingers of the god Amun are shown to touch those of the queen She awoke because of the god’s scent and cried out with pleasure before his majesty. … She rejoiced at the sight of his beauty, and love of him suffused her body. …'How great is your power!'… Your dew permeates all my limbs,' and so the boy child Amenhotep was born into the world created by Amun and then crowned as the King. I realized the similarity of this sequence of events of this ancient Egyptian relief as it compares to our Christmas story of the angel coming to visit Mary to tell her that she will give birth to the son of God. As the Royal scribe Ani said; 'God reveals himself in millions of forms'

Alexander the Great in Luxor Temple

Beyond the Festival hall you will arrive at the heart of the Temple which has smaller chambers, and contains The Sacred Barque shrine that originally had acacia wooden doors inlaid with gold. The scenes on its walls were plastered over during the rule of Alexander the Great, and show him dressed as a pharaoh, entering and receiving the two crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt and making offerings to the God Amun.

Alexander dedicated the Holy Barque shrine to himself  , it is noticeable that Alexander embraced the Egyptian Gods, this could be a tactical move on his part, as religion plays a very large part in the ruling of the many countries that he invaded.The Barque shrine of Amun was rededicated to Alexander the Great, he is crowned King of Upper and Lower Egypt. In this relief Alexander offers incense to the God of fertility and rejuvenation, Amun-Min, who was celebrated during the Ancient Egyptian 'Opet Festival'

 The original  reliefs on the surrounding walls outside of the Barque chapel portray Amenhotep III driving cattle to the temple for the feast and celebrations, to be slaughtered before the god Amun,  He also offers Amun, flowers, vases and incense. He is then accepted by the god and conducted into his presence in the sanctuary.



The Romans in Luxor Temple

During the Roman era,  Luxor Temple and its surroundings were a legionary fortress and the home of the Roman government in Thebes. The Roman's created a chapel inside the Ancient Egyptian Barque chapel of the Goddess Mut in the first courtyard of Ramses 111 and later it became a church in 395 A.D.

Walking through the Festival Hall of Amenophis 111 you then enter a small area where the Romans created their Imperial Chamber which consists of  a small 3rd Century legionary shrine on the right hand side from the reign of Diocletian, and to the left of the shrine high up on the wall there is a beautiful Roman fresco that has been lovingly restored almost showing their original colours
The murals were painted in fresco on lime plaster by a group of exceptionally skilled artists who were probably attached to Diocletian's imperial court.

Walking back through the Main Pylons of Luxor Temple on the right hand side outside the temple, behind the avenue of sphinx, the Romans built a small chapel using burnt bricks, this chapel was dedicated to Serapis  and was reconstructed by Gaius Julius Antoninus, a former soldier and neokoro (temple attendant) of Serapis.

The God Serapis personified divine majesty, and represented the sun, fertility, healing, and the afterlife.

The Cult of Serapis was created by Ptolemy I Sotar  of the Greek Ptolemaic dynasty, as a means of creating Religious harmony between his Egyptian and Greek subjects.

The Goddess Isis was considered to be the Consort and wife of Seraphis, Ancient Egyptians adored the Godess Isis, who had brought her husband Osiris back from the dead, Isis was worshiped by the Greeks and the Romans who believed her to be the supreme deity who created the World.

The devotees of Isis were a small proportion of the Roman Empire's population but were found all across its territories. The Romans remained faithful to Isis until they converted to Christianity, when the worship of Isis was outlawed, the last temple in Egypt to still worship Isis was the Temple of Philae., then the priests were driven out of her Temple, and the Christians moved in creating their churches and carving their crosses on the walls and pillars.The new Christian faith drew upon the image of the Goddess Isis holding her baby son Horus for the depiction of the Madonna with the Christ child.

Inside the small chapel of Seraphis you can see the remains of columns, and a small statue of the Goddess Isis.

The Feast of the Opet at Luxor Temple

I feel that Luxor temple is a unique temple as it is not the home of a god, nor is it a mortuary temple; this temple was created to celebrate Birth, and rejuvenation. Every year a wonderful celebration was held here known as the Opet Festival, when the king led the sacred barques of the God Amun his wife Mut and their son Khonsu, during the celebrations the king and Egypt was symbolically reborn every year, the king would disappear from the festival and re-emerge seven days later from the birth room, so when I think of Luxor temple I imagine it as a living womb, and when it was time for the birth the festival and ceremony of the birth was enacted.  Luxor temple was connected to Karnack temple by a long umbilical cord, or avenue  of sphinx, over the centuries the sphinx have been buried beneath the sand and the ties of energy between the two temples have been trampled on but these last few years the area around the temple has been cleared and more of the sphinx have been found and released from the sand, it is my hope that one day people will be able to walk the whole avenue once more following in the footsteps of the King and the priests from Karnack temple to Luxor
rejuvenating the link between these temples  and offering new life and energy to Egypt once more.

Walking through Luxor Temple I feel that you can sense an aura as you stand in the dust of time with the fire of the sun baking the earth in the open courtyard. Stand quietly as the history of the ancients and the wisdom of the sages engulf you with their dedications to the gods, then your heart will lift as the blood pumps faster through your veins. Imagine this; you are now stood on the same ground as Ramses ‘The Great’ of the 19th Dynasty of the Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt.



There are a small  suite of rooms that represent the bedroom of Amun where the Opet festival rituals took place, and the pharaoh  retired to the Birth Room, from which he would later  emerge symbolically re-born and restored. The statues of the king’s ka were no longer on display because the ka was now believed to have taken residence in the pharaoh’s body.  Reliefs in the birth room represent Amun choosing the Queen Mutemweje to give birth to his son. He sent Thoth with the message to the queen and ordered Khnum to create an image of himself on his potter’s wheel. The boy child Amenhotep was born into the world created by Amun and then crowned as the King. I realized the similarity of this sequence of events of this ancient Egyptian relief as it compares to our Christmas story of the angel coming to visit Mary to tell her that she will give birth to the son of God.    As the Royal scribe Ani said; ‘God reveals himself in millions of forms’

The Colossi of Memnon - They Sang at Dawn - Eos who wept for the death of her son Agamemnon

The Colossi of Memnon

                                                                          

                                               
The Colossi of Memnon are two enormous statues sitting on the throne of two lands rising to a height 66ft, they originally flanked the entrance to the Mortuary Temple of Amenhotep 111, and the remains of the temple are in the process of being excavated. Amenhotep 111 also created the large Hall of Festivals at Luxor Temple, and his tomb was found in the Valley of the Kings by soldiers of Napoleon's expedition to Egypt in 1799. 

His wife Queen Tiye was not of royal blood, unusually she was the daughter of a chariot officer; both his wife and his mother Mut-em-ua embrace the sides of his legs. These two statues sitting alone on the fields became famous during the Greek conquest of Egypt when the right statue was known to sing. The Colossi face East and the River Nile, with a backdrop of the Theban Mountains and the Tombs of the Nobles. 

The Colossi represent Amenophis 111 of the 18th dynasty, who was the father of the heretic king Akhenaten. The left statue is in a better condition than the right one, the decoration on the base of the throne shows Hapi the God of The Nile, he is an unusual God because although male he is represented with female breasts, and a flabby belly of a woman who has seen child birth, his presence on the colossi would be to guarantee the fertility of the cultivated fields when the Nile floods. The Greeks named the right statue after the legend of Memnon who was the son of the Titan Goddess Eos. Memnon had been slain by Achilles during the Trojan War and the Greeks believed the sound that came from the statue in the morning was Memnon greeting his mother Eos who wept for the death of her son.  Graffiti carved on the foot of the Memnon translated reads ‘From Trebulla. Hearing the Holy voice of Memnon I missed you, O my mother, and I prayed that you might hear him too.’



 Over the ages science has taken away belief and scholars explain that the Colossi was cracked during an earthquake and the singing is now known not to be the singing of gods but  the cause of  the rock having cooled during the night, and once the rock heated up again at sunrise it caused the sounds to emit from the cracks. From a distance the colossi look unimpressive due to their deterioration, and  most travelers get off their bus and stand at the edge of the car park  to take their photos, then they all swarm back onto their buses again unaware of the interest that the Memnon can inspire, do not be discouraged  by the appearance and layers of wreckage of the colossi because if you walk over and stand beneath the mighty statues of Amenophis, on closer  inspection the right colossi   has the most interesting graffiti that has been etched into the stone of it’s legs from the many travelers throughout  the centuries to commemorate that they heard the sound or paid homage to the Memnon, words are written in  Latin  Greek English and  the French  soldiers  during Napoleon’s  attempted conquest  of Egypt, some of the etched comments  written ;  Camilius, hora prima semis' audivi Memnoni. Which means, ‘At half-past the first hour I Camilius, have heard the Memnon’ It is believed that Camilius was an early second - century Roman governor of the province of Egypt.

I would love to climb a ladder armed with large sheets of tracing paper and gently rub the inscriptions out onto the paper to be able to decipher all the comments from the travelers that have come to the Memnon over the centuries creating a book on the graffiti of the Memnon, it is one of the largest and most unusual autograph books written in stone that I have ever seen.

The Roman Emperor Hadrian visited the Memnon with his wife the Empress Sabrina and his court, in their company was a poet and companion of the empress Julia Balbilla, she had her own graffiti carved onto the foot of the Memnon which translated  reads: ‘I Balbilla, when the rock spoke, heard the voice of the Divine Memnon or Phamenoth. I came here with the lovely Empress Sabina. The Course of the Sun was in its first hour, in the fifteenth year of Hadrian’s reign on the 24th day of the month of Hathor, I wrote this on the 25th day of the month of Hathor,

The colossal statues of Amenhotep 111 were originally hewn out of the quarries at Aswan, and eight ships were built to transport them up the Nile to stand at the entrance of the mortuary temple on the West Bank of Thebes.  Only the foundations remain of the temple of Amenhotep now, earthquakes and the Nile floods left it in ruins, and later pharaohs stripped it down for their own temples, only the Colossi indicate its former entrance. Behind the colossi archaeologists are working in the foundations of the mortuary temple I noticed that they have erected the huge Stella that recorded the temple and how it was made for Amun. The archaeologists have found many statues and artifacts over the last 15 years and they are wonderful to see.